Durant leads Nets back to beat Trail Blazers

NEW YORK (AP) — Seth Curry came back and some of the burden on Kevin Durant went away.

Durant scored 38 points, Curry returned to the lineup with seven 3-pointers in his best game as a Net, and Brooklyn rallied to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 128-123 on Friday night.

Curry finished with 27 points, his most since coming from Philadelphia last month in the trade headlined by James Harden and Ben Simmons. Curry had missed the previous three games with left ankle soreness and with Kyrie Irving ineligible to play at home, Dallas took advantage of that Wednesday by constantly sending second defenders at Durant.

“You shouldn’t be able to run two or three guys at a player the entire game without having to pay for it,” Curry said, “so I think we did a good job of taking advantage of it tonight.”

Andre Drummond and Bruce Brown each added 17 points for the Nets. They bounced back from their loss at the buzzer to the Mavericks and won for the fifth time in six games.

Josh Hart scored 25 points for the Trail Blazers, who led by 18 early in the second half but couldn't hold on and lost their third straight. Brandon Williams added 24 points.

Durant shot 11 for 15 from the field and added six rebounds and six assists, but the decisive stretch came when he was on the bench to begin the fourth quarter. The Nets opened with a 10-0 spurt, featuring two 3-pointers by Curry, to turn a tie game into a 111-101 lead.

Curry finished 7 for 11 behind the arc.

“We needed that and good to see him back out there,” Durant said. “He missed a few games with that ankle but I’m glad he’s getting better and he was able to come out here and play and we needed all those points tonight.”

Portland would get it down to three late but Curry finished it off